The Robot Translator (Flash Fiction Part 8)

Image by kiquebg from Pixaba

This is the 8th part of the story. The previous 5 parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

“Oh, well, Fifi was gone. The idiotic robot couldn’t translate well. My boss couldn’t stand it and put it away to collect dust. Finally, it’s about time.” Ayun says to Lulan.

“Oh well, That’s the fate for many new gadgets, isn’t it? I am not surprised. You know I have a bread machine and an air fryer at home, which I only used one or two times. They have been collecting dusts for years.” Lulan says, “wait a second. Don’t tell me you have a hand in Fifi’s dismissal. I mean last time when we talked about it, you were a little upset with Fifi’s presence.”

“Well, Lulan, you are the only person I will tell my secret to. I don’t know why this is the case but it is what it is. Still, if I had done it–hypothetically speaking–I would never admit to it. Not even to you.” Ayun says.

Ayun and Lulan are at “Ivy Training Center”, where Lulan works. Lulan is at her cubicle, not at the front desk, while Ayun is standing, one hand holding the edge of the cubicle partition. Ayun is such an old client that she comes to talk with Lulan regularly. Ayun has other friends, like other moms who live close to her and can share her duty of driving kids around for different activities, or like the wives of her husband’s scientists and engineer crowd. However, she is not particularly close to them, for fear that her secrets will be known in the mom circle in the local community or her secrets will be passed back to her husband by his friends’ wives.

Ayun drops her son Andy here to attend the advanced math class for fourth graders. She could have gone shopping or sitting at the coffee shop or doing other things in the vicinity while waiting for Andy, but she chooses to talk with Lulan instead.

“Good for you, Ayun. You don’t have to tell me. As women, we conceal our art all the time.” Lulan says.

“However, I just have this guilty feeling in me. I mean I somehow feel that I am… You know…” Ayun says.

“I can’t help wondering what you did to Fifi to make you feel so guilty.” Lulan says, smiling. “Well, you got to fight for your job security, right? You have no choice, I guess.”

“Not about Fifi. I am not feeling guilty about Fifi at all. That’s just a robot. I am feeling guilty towards my son Andy.” Ayun says.

“What are you talking about? You are the best attentive mom I’ve ever met. What guilt? Does this have anything to do with Fifi? I mean I am really confused here. You are jumping all over the place.” Lulan asks.

“Well, Fifi’s dismissal was a trigger. It made me think that I have failed my son Andy–I can handle Fifi; I can handle my husband; I can handle my boss. However I haven’t handled my relationship with Andy well. Andy is the only person I have ever loved, but I have failed him. Big time.” Ayun says.

“Oh, get out of here. You are the best mom in my opinion. Don’t be too hard on yourself. What is this about?” Lulan asks.

“I am so afraid that Andy is going to be like his father. He is just going to grow up as a boring engineer, who is a good provider but who’s emotional stunted. It is all my fault. What do you think? Is it because I have always been scheming, planning, plotting just to get a teeny tiny little interaction with my emotionless parents when I grew up, just to obtain a little bit of money to make myself presentable in college so that people don’t look down on me as a poor kid, just to get a better work assignment while I was working before I got married, just to get my husband Tram to listen to me once in a long while? I think I have been so busy plotting these little strategies to get things working my way that I have ignored the crucial connection and communication with others, especially with my son.” Ayun says.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Ayun, you are so attentive and considerate with Andy. You are a great mother. I can’t believe you are so negative on yourself. You are like twice as attentive and considerate with your son as I am with mine.” Lulan says.

“Maybe the attentiveness and the consideration is a manifestation of my guilt. Don’t you think? It is a shield to obscure the fact that I didn’t have sufficient communication with Andy.” Ayun says.

“You communicate very well with Andy, at least according to my observation. Well, are there anything in particular that you want to communicate? I am really not following you. And why suddenly you have thoughts like this. I am quite baffled.” Lulan says.

“I haven’t told you this, but it was really upsetting to me. I feel that I have to stand up to my husband Tram. I mean I have been silent for too long but I am not going to be silent anymore.” Ayun says.

“What? What is happening? Is it infidelity? Is it gambling? Is it buying a time sharing condo in North Carolina? Is it online porn? Or probably coldness, which can be a sign of depression. Is he depressed? No wonder you are quite out of your mind today.” Lulan says.

“No, none of these. It is something different, but equally bad or even worse. I have been too indulgent and too let-him-have-his-way. And I have to put a stop to it…” Ayun says.

(To Be Continued Here)